Bucket conveyer



3 w. A. MELCHIOR ET AL 2,663,402

BUCKET CONVEYER Filed Sept 10, 1949 s Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TORS 1953 w. A. MELCHIOR ET AL 2,663,402

BUCKET CONVEYER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 10, 1949 INVENTOR5 Wdkeim 67276506407;

Patented Dec. 22, 1953 :KUCK'ET CoNVEYER Wilhelm -lt ielcliior, Wilmette, and, ,A,lan R.

'fGram Gliicago, Ill.-, assignors to The 'coliiihliia #Ma'ltin'g Go'mpa-n-y, Chicago, Ill. a corporation :of- Illinois aspiration-September 10, '1e 19, seria'fNo.1'151662 This invention relates ts anew and i'm'prove'd conveyor and more particularly to-a, continuous conveyor of the bucket type.

The conveyor is "especially designed "for handling small 'elements'orgranular material such,

a-ge and loss of material. -It tends, also, to ihcrease the overall height of the bu ildin'g or supporting structure and to unnecessarily complicate the driving and *control mechanisms re quired. A further object to such r'nultiple uni't conveyor systems resides in the fir'e and other hazards incident to failure and choking of "one of the conveying units while preceding units remain in operation.

The conveyor of the present invention is"fr'e'e from the above objections "and combines extreme- 3 'olaims. (Cl. liq K l I per portion bf i igiii'e 1y gentle handling 'ofthe m at'erial with high carrying capacity, a minimum "of 'fri'ctic'ir'ial-contact of the moving parts and simplicity construction. While metal buckets are preferably used, they are carried and supported by continuous belts which are formed of non-metallic materials such, for example, as leather, fabric, rubber or various rubber-like synthetic materials with or without fibrous or fabric reinforcement. The metal buckets are so spaced that they do not contact each other and the construction is designed to eliminate creation of sparks which is important when handling certain materials such, for example, as grain or malt.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved continuous conveyor "continuous flexible elements, the buckets being 1 maintained out er contact with *aiih other during the "operationof tne conveyor.

It is also an object "to provide a conveyor or this type in which the there "areso [associated and related fun a "horizontal "in l so that "the conveyor may be 'cohtinuoufsly fed "with "material, with all material enteri'iigbuckets.

It is another 'object to provide *a conveyor or 'thisltype operatingd ver insane which "locatej'ahd guide C ntact withthefmeta other and furt er objefis' will' appearas the descriptiohp fdceds.

We have shown o'fbll'rinve'iitidh in he accompanying drawings,

'in Which I g agraninifitfveivatibn H on/d an enlarged scale, 'takefhon -lihe L- of Figure '4 is a I a'ry section "taken through tne eo'nve u seiiportin 'pune Figure 5 is a 'fi agmen side levation, on an enlarged scale and fiar tl bidkn awayyshowinga modified rormof eonveyor Fi'g'ure 6 is vane-a1 setien through the conveyor of Figure 5; Figure '7 is a buck'etsof the co Figure "8 is a t v'eyor of Figure The particular for m of installation shown in Figures 1 "to in'cli-isiife comprises an up er sopporting "ifraniev'vo' rk, generally d'icat'e'd at H, carry-inga driven 'pu'l y [3 ndan idler pulley l5 over which the apper "of the --"conveyor passes. The driven zpaney 13 ma be driven by any desired means, the particular :form of drive forming no vpartof -the present invention not being shown. conveycr'compr isesa pair of flexible belts 20, pest-shown 'inthecross sec'tional view of Figures 2 and 4. The upper runs of these belts 20 are supported Joy-spaced rollers 2 l, as shown in Figure 3. These belts carry the buckets 22 which are provided with permanently connected arms 24 'whi'ch ar'e secured to'the belts 20 by rivets 25. The bucketS 22 maybe formed of pieces of sheet metal welded together and the arms '24 have downturned f'flanges 2-6 which may lee-welded to the-side walls-21 0f the buckets.

Referring to Figure l, the-conveyor is shown as nsverse "stiih 61' the conhaving an *upwardlymov-ing run 30 which is enclosed a housing 3- '4.'-. flfhe flower run of the conveyor is guided by the idler pulleys 3 6 and 33.

The upper run of the conveyor is shown in Figure 1 as discharging into the upper flared portion 46 of a hopper 48. The lower end of hopper 48 is shown as provided with a rotary discharge control means 50. Above the lower run 52 of the conveyor are shown a plurality of feed hoppers '53, 54 and 55, these being provided with the rotary discharge control means '51, 58 and 59 respectively. It will be understood that this showing is diagrammatic and that other types of hop pers and feeding means may be used and the lo:- 'cation and number of the lower hoppers may be varied as desired.

As shown in Figure 4, the pulleys I3 are provided with inner circularly extending guard members 86 to prevent the material being carried on the inner pulley surfaces and to deflect into the discharge hopper. All of the pulleys I3, I5, 36 and 38 are provided with the radially extending external flanges 63. These flanges serve to engage the outer edges of the belts 20 and to prevent them Working laterally of the pulleys. It will be seen in Figure 4 that the dimensions of the arms 24 and thepulley spacing are so related to the width of the buckets that the buckets do not contact the pulleys. Also, the outer ends of arms 24 do not contact the flanges 68.

The individual buckets are each provided with forward walls in which incline upwardly and forwardly from the bottom I2. These walls 10 terminate below the line of the connecting arms 24. The rear walls of the buckets are provided with the lowermost short vertically extending sections 14 connected to lower forwardly inclined sections I5 and upper rearwardly inclined sections '18. It will be noted that the wall sections '58 terminate below the upper edges 80 of the side walls 21 of the buckets. The forwardly inclined walls I of the buckets are inclined on a greater angle than the rearwardly inclined walls 76 and the upper edge of the forward wall section 10 overlies the forwardly inclined rear section i6 of the adjacent bucket and lies under the rearwardly inclined upper section 18 of the rear wall of the preceding bucket. This relative position of the buckets insures that all material delivered to the lower run of the conveyor falls into the buckets, none of it passing between the buckets.

The buckets 22 are 'so spaced that no part of one bucket engages an adjacent bucket at any time when passing over pulleys or in straight runs of the conveyor. The arms 24 are of such length that they do not extend entirely across the belts and cannot engage the pulley flanges 68. By using non-metallic belts 20 and countersinking the rivets, there is no metal to metal contact in the conveyor system which serves to eliminate possibilities of creating sparks in the operation of the conveyor. This is important when the conveyor is used in handling grain or malt or other materials which give ofi dust which may cause an explosion if ignited. Due to the angular relationship of the walls, the buckets not only fill efliciently without loss between buckets but, also, dump cleanly on the upper run of the conveyor.

Referring next to the form of construction shown in Figures to 8 inclusive, the pulleys and general assembly are the same as that used in the construction of Figures 1 to 4. Two parallel belts 85 are used similar to the belts 20. The supporting metal cross members 81 are secured to the belts 20 by the rivets 88. A metal saddle 89 is welded to the center of each cross member 8'! and the bucket bodies 9| are welded into their seats in the saddles 89. The body members M are U-shaped in cross-section and constitute the backs and sides of the buckets. The bottoms 93 and sloping forward walls 95 of the buckets are preferably formed of a single piece of sheet metal bent as shown and welded to the bucket body 91. It will be noted that the upper edge 9'! of the forward wall 95 of the bucket terminates below the upper edge 98 of the body 9 I, and in the rear of the forward edge 99 thereof.

Each body member 9| is preferably formed with corrugations IUI and I52 running parallel to the upper and lower edges and adjacent these edges. The strips of flexible material I94 connect the top edge of one bucket 9| with the bottom of the next upper bucket. The strips are held to the buckets by metal clamp bands I96 which are corrugated at III? to correspond to the bucket corrugations I III and I02. These bands I06 are also shown as provided with elongated depressions I98 to aid in clamping the flexible strips I0 1 to the buckets. The flexible strips HM may be made of any suitable material such as natural or synthetic rubber or other plastic material.

Due to the location of the buckets 9I on the saddles 89, which space them inwardly of the arc of the belts in passing around a pulley, there is no tendency to stretch the strips I94 as the buckets QI tilt relative to each other in passing around the pulley. The material flexes or folds, but does not stretch. In the lower run of the conveyor below the hoppers 53, 5 5 and 55, the conveyor buckets and their connecting strips form a continuous trough to receive material from the hoppers. On the vertical run, with the buckets as shown in Figure 6, the material drops by gravity into the buckets and is entirely carried by them. On the upper horizontal run, the gravity discharge of the material is quick and clean.

While the conveyors are shown as having short horizontal runs and long vertical runs, it will be understood that the showing is diagrammatic and that they may be adapted for any purpose and that they may be used for conveying material angularly or horizontally, as well as vertically. Any number and arrangement of feed hoppers may be used as desired.

While we have shown certain preferred embodiments of our invention, they are to be understood to be illustrative only as it is capable of variation to meet differing conditions and re quirements, and we contemplate such modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a conveyor, a plurality of pulleys, means for driving at least one of said pulleys, a continuous flexible belt extending around said pulleys, and a plurality of closely spaced buckets secured to said belt, said buckets having side, bottom, front and rear walls, the front and rear walls extending forwardly of their line of junction with the bottom, the front wall extending forwardly and upwardly from the bottom and terminating below the top of the sides, the rear wall having a lower portion extending forwardly upon a lesser angle than the front wall and an upper portion inclined rearwardly, the buckets being so spaced on the belts that the upper edge of the front wall of a bucket lies above the lower forwardly extending portion of the rear wall of the adjacent bucket and below the upper rearwardly inclined portion of the rear wall of said bucket.

2. In a conveyor, a plurality of pulleys placed in spaced pairs, spaced parallel continuous belts carried by the pulleys, buckets located between said belts, and arms extending from the buckets and secured to the belts, the buckets having reentrant angles formed in their rear walls and having forward Walls extending into the re-entrant angle of the rear wall of the adjacent bucket.

3. In a conveyor, a plurality of pulleys placed in spaced pairs, spaced parallel continuous belts carried by the pulleys, buckets located between said belts, and arms extending from the buckets and secured to the belts, the buckets having reentrant angles formed in their rear walls and having forward walls extending into the re-entrant angle of the rear wall of the adjacent bucket, the tops of the buckets being open to provide a continuous material receiving area in a lower horizontal run of the conveyor.

WILHELM A. MELCHIOR. ALAN R. GRAFF.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Kearns Aug. 28, 1883 Dodge Aug. 4, 1896 Schmidt Oct. 15, 1901 Wilfley Dec. 29, 1903 Dodge July 12, 1904 Altmann -1 Dec. 6, 1904 Higgins Aug. 4, 1914 Alvey May 11, 1943 Gemeny Jan. 11, 1944 Meyer Jan. 25, 1944 Thomas Aug. 6, 1,946 

